Now, I know that you have seen more beautiful bird pictures in your life–and I’ve certainly posted better ones myself, a million times. But there’s something very special about these ones, so lame or not, I’m sharing them with you.
You see, for several months now, I’ve completely neglected the bird feeders and left those lovely birdies that we love so much, to find food…elsewhere. Sounds heartless, I know, but I had a good reason, or at least it feels like one to me.
Not too long after I posted this, a sad, terrible thing happened. One afternoon, Lyndi sat watching a pretty little finch nibbling away at the seeds in the feeder–happy as a clam. When from out of nowhere, the ugly, rotten, loser, orange cat from across the fence sprang up onto the deck, and in one fluid motion, grabbed the bird and dove back down. Just like that. No warning whatsoever.
Maybe, if your not an avid bird watcher, you’ll think this is silly, but honestly, it broke my heart. It was so awful to think that now the birds wouldn’t be able to trust our yard and wouldn’t come around anymore because, it wasn’t safe. After all our work to lure them here just so we could watch them. I have two cats of my own, for Pete’s sake, but they would never do such a thing. And now, we would be known in the feathered kingdom as the “bird slayers.”
It’s been months now since we’ve seen any of our sweet little friends, so when I looked out the window this morning and saw this brave little orange finch, I snapped pictures as quickly as I could. She just sat there…waiting. It was like she was asking us if, after all this time, it’s safe to come back now.
Trouble is, I have no idea. And I don’t really want to put more seeds out with the “cat from the dark realm” still lurking about. So, I still need to figure out a safe way to feed them, and enjoy them, that doesn’t make them…bait.
Do you have any ideas?
Because, really, really…I think they miss us too.
If you were to hang the feeders on metal stakes far enough from the deck that cats can’t jump onto the feeder, I believe it would work. Cats can’t climb metal poles, but squirrels might. They have managed to climb the metal pole that my feeder is on, but a light greasing of Vaseline puts a stop to that. We have hundreds of birds in our yard, and a cat, but he’s never been able to climb that pole. The squirrels are the biggest danger & aggravation that the birds have here. The chorus of birds singing on these spring mornings is beautiful, and I hope you will be able to enjoy your birds soon. We already have several bluebird houses with eggs and babies, and a wren nest in once of the birdhouses on the front porch……….Joyce
I have found some tips for you here: http://www.ehow.com/how_6530715_keep-cats-away-bird-feeders.html
I hope these help!
Kati
It sounds to me like you need to get the squirt bottle out for the neighbor cat. That should do the trick. Hahahaha!
Yes Kali is expecting again (hurrah!!) She miscarried a few months ago and so has been a little nervous to announce this one but so far so good.
I give you permission to go get some ice cream, pronto! Especially with this heat wave going on. I quite like Menchies myself.
I hope the birds will come back… I love seeing them around! 🙂 I like the spray bottle idea! 😉